


Poker Game

by devastating



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Blood and Injury, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd Needs a Hug, Everything’s vague and not detailed, Eye Trauma, Guns and violence, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mild (and I mean one sentence) transphobia, Pining, Some Humor, Sylvain Jose Gautier's Father's Bad Parenting, Trans Male Character, Trans Sylvain Jose Gautier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:23:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29777499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devastating/pseuds/devastating
Summary: The mission was supposed to be simple: keep your eyes on the target for the rest of the gala. Simple. Easy. So why was he suddenly falling for the crown prince of Faerghus? Why was he being shot at?Alternatively: I’m taking my crush to meet my family. No. It’s not weird. Shut up.|Dimivain Big Bang 2021|
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	Poker Game

**Author's Note:**

> This is my piece for the dimivain Big Bang!!! I am so happy to finally be able to share it and so thankful that I was able to be paired up with [Andie](https://twitter.com/kaijujuice?s=21)!! Thank you so much for being my partner for this and hearing me scream about how stupid these two boys are. 
> 
> **Please make sure to go check out their Twitter! They drew for this fic and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life**

Sylvain stopped being able to count the amount of times he donned this suit. It was overly dramatic in design and borderline hysterical with its maroon color when seen hanging in his closet. However the minute he put that suit on it somehow looked like the perfect set of clothes to match his looks. The red of his hair is in theory supposed to clash with the suit and his freckles and curls would surely cause him to look more theatrical than professional and yet as he walked the gala’s floor, eyes couldn’t help but drift to him. 

This of course, was done on purpose. 

Sylvain Jose Gautier was a man that never did anything without intention. Every step he took, every word he spoke, and every look he gave was all tactically created with care. A precision that many didn’t think existed in him. “Playboy”, “Fool”, “Inheritance Brat”, “Cheater”, “Fuck Up”, those and many more were titles given to him through out the years. All titles he intentionally gave himself, because at the end of the day, Sylvain Jose Gautier was playing a role, one he dutifully played with ease. 

_Poker, come in._

Sylvain smiled at the girl that was flirting with him, taking a sip of his champagne before discreetly tapping on his ear piece by pretending to move his hair. Enough of a response from him so that the girl before him didn’t think it suspicious. 

_We have eyes on our target. Vulture’s given the command, move out._

He downed the rest of the champagne before smiling at the girl, “if you’ll excuse me.” He smiled, waving his glass around before stepping past her, ignoring the clear audible huffing from the girl and making a beeline to the back of the room. It was a clear and spacious event, the ceilings high and the walls lined with windows. If you asked him, it was the worst place to hold such a pristine gala just because of how much security would be needed since there were so many places to attack from. 

_Poker, status._

Sylvain rolled his eyes, “eyes on target, I’ll move at my own pace now.” He didn’t bother hiding his annoyance at the pestering. It wasn’t Linhardt’s fault, he knew that much. But he also knew that Hubert was most likely right next to him which was why he didn’t bother hiding how he felt. 

He hummed quietly, looking around the gala until his eyes landed on the target. He smiled to himself. This was going to be an easy mission, ridiculously easy actually. Track the target and stay by his side till the end of the gala; don’t let him get hurt. Easy. At first it had annoyed him when he had been the one given this mission instead of Dorothea, who specialized in infiltration just like he did. However unlike her, Sylvain also specialized in more “underground missions” that required a dirtier set of skills and a lot more action. Unlike Dorothea, his commanding officer was Hubert, hers was Ferdinand; there was a clear difference between each party. But he had learned over his time in the black eagle strike force to not question the bosses orders. If she felt that he was the right one for the job then he took the mission in stride. 

He made his way to the target, smiling and flirting with anyone he passed, even took a girl out to dance so that he could more easily reach the target without it seeming done on purpose. It wasn’t until his back was resting on the wall and he was feigning exhaustion that he let his eyes drift to the target in a way that the man knew he was being watched. Sylvain had already seen pictures of the man but it still shocked him how one man could look both handsome but also like someone that was the human embodiment of feral danger. Caspar had said that he looked like a Viking lord and so Sylvain would take that comparison and tack it on to how this man looked. 

“Hey, not one for parties, I take it?” He asked, vying for a more casual approach than a flirting one. The man was far too closed off for him to even humor the thought of wiping out his usual antics. 

The man smiled politely, “what gave it away?” 

Sylvain has to suppress the shudder that threatened to go down his spine at how absolutely addicting the man’s voice was. The man in question then turned to him, a smile on his face and piercing blue eyes that took in Sylvain’s appearance. It was chaste and polite but Sylvain could see that the man was attracted to him. If not at least intrigued as to why he was so brazen in his approach. 

“Who knows, maybe it’s the quiet dimmed corner you’ve decided to lurk in” Sylvain mused, taking a sip of his champagne. “Or maybe it’s the fact that this is the first time I see you tonight and I’ve been out on the floor for most of the gala.” 

“I don’t usually do these kinds of events.” 

Short and polite answers, he had expected the man to be rude maybe even mean given his appearanc. “So then what do you like? Let me guess” he hummed turning to look at the man. “Jogging. You look like someone that likes to work out but not the type that likes the gym.” 

“I don’t mind the gym” the man mumbled. “I’m Dimitri.” He spoke as if his name didn’t hold importance, as if his name was not something that shook the very foundation of this country. As if he wasn’t Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, son of the late king of Faerghus. 

Sylvain couldn’t help but grin, “I’m Mathew.” 

_9 o’clock, Poker._

Sylvain turned to lean his back on the wall again, eyes scanting until he saw what Linhardt wanted him to see. The tall raven haired man stood out in the crowd as everyone parted ways almost as if the man himself was a highly esteemed knight and not a simple politician. Though that was unfair for that man, Rodrigue Achilles Fraldarius was a man that had been carefully helping Faerghus in all political affairs after the late king and queen died in an accident no one really knew much of. He was far from just the plain simple politician everyone labeled him as.

“The man of the hour” Sylvain mumbled, chuckling slightly at the thought of just how absolutely horrible it must be to be the center of attention for something like this. 

“Yes,” Sylvain turned to find Dimitri looking at Rodrigue, a mixture of awe and reluctance. 

“You know him personally?” He already knew the answer to that question but still wanted to see how that would be answered. 

Dimitri chuckled, “you can say that.” The younger man turned from him then, looking up to where Rodrigue now stood. Sylvain didn’t miss the way Dimitri was keeping his status hidden from him. Didn’t miss the way the man was now putting distance between each other. Funny that the man thought that someone could be blissfully unaware of who he was. 

_Poker, status._

He sighed, watched as Rodrigue took the podium and just when the crowd went from loud to quiet he took that exact second to whisper, “secured” and then faked being enthralled by the older man. His body facing him while his eyes started wandering around the room, the chatter from before now silent as Rodrigue took a deep breath. 

“I want to thank all of you for joining me tonight,” Rodrigue’s voice boomed. “I am grateful to each and everyone of you for your appearance and I hope that the party has been one that you will have fond memories of.” 

Sylvain heard Dimitri hum quietly besides him. 

“Ten years ago was the last time that these halls last held a gala and since then I am sure you are all aware of what has happened between then and now.” Sylvain could see Dimitri shift in his spot before the man continued. “However now is not the time to think about that, now is a joyous occasion, one to celebrate all the new and the good.” 

Sylvain tuned the man out then, his eyes shifted from window to window. Trying to remember each face that looked slightly anxious or bored by the speech, a force of habit he developed from his other missions. He was just an over glorified body guard for this mission but that didn’t mean that he could just shut off the way his brain worked. His feet slightly shuffling closer to Dimitri before he mumbled under his breath, “eyes?” 

_Nothing so far, stand down for now_.

He breathed out slowly, looking up at the podium to instead look at the people that were ‘discreetly’ (not really) guarding over the crown prince that stood besides him. Three people stood in separate corners of the room and Sylvain knew each thanks to his reports: Ingrid Galatea, Felix Fraldarius, and Dedue Molinaro. Three of Faerghus’ most specialized and trained guards that were rumored to be able to rival special ops members. Dedue himself was said to be the strongest out of the three and the most lethal. Of course in his reports he also knew that Dimitri had undergone the same training as they did for self defense purposes so Sylvain knew the man next to him was on the same calaver of deadly. 

In that moment his eyes linked with Dedue’s, the tall man not averting his eyes and if anything his face shifted to that of a man sizing someone up. However movement on his right forced Sylvain to look away, he watched as red headed girl quietly got from her seat and briskly walked away, her presence would’ve been undetected had Sylvain not been on the lookout. She would have also been no one for him to take note of if it wasn’t for the fact that his commanding officer was Hubert and suddenly he knew why Edelgard had sent him out on this mission instead of Dorothea. 

“Redhead, 3 o’clock. Matches Kronya’s description.” he hissed quietly, eyes looking up at Dedue as the man had apparently seen what he had, taking a step forward and then the bomb went off. 

The explosion coming from the far end of the room and blowing that entire part of the building to bits, debri flying out as fire started to take ablaze. The sound of it caused his ears to start ringing and he cursed loudly as his back hit the wall knocking the air out of his lungs. His mind raced and tried to cope with what was happening but this was hardly the first time since he had been so close to an explosion being set off. Instantly his mind shifted to the headspace it went to when he was on the job. Grabbing his bearings in three seconds before he turned to Dimitri, the other man had been knocked back in the explosion as he now held his hand over his face. Blood seeped out through his fingers and instantly he knew that meant trouble. He didn’t bother waiting for him to get a hold of the situation though. He grabbed the man’s wrist and hauled him up, dragging him across the room and towards the first escape route he had routed. 

Then the gunshots started. 

Sylvain cursed as he rounded the corner, practically carrying Dimitri as he ran out of the ballroom. It was only then that Dimitri’s brain snapped out of shock and he was met with a shove but as soon as the other man was no longer leaning on him he stumbled, catching himself on the wall. For the first time he noticed the gash that ran from the man's cheek up his forehead, cutting right at the eye. 

“We need to get you out of here _now_ ” he hissed, grabbing Dimitri’s arm again and prying him off the wall. 

Dimitri just groaned at him before he, unfortunately, pulled away to try to run back to the ballroom. Most likely to go to try and save Rodrigue and his friends or at least regroup with them. However the minute he turned that way that was when two men in all black rounded the corner, guns in hands and already aimed at Dimitri. Instantly Sylvain grabbed at his waist and pulled his own gun out, running over and kicking Dimitri on the knees to make the man buckle back and then shot both men down before they could register the fact that he had been there at all. 

He looked down at the man on the floor, “If you want to live I suggest you let me help you.” Instantly Dimitri looked ready to argue with him but Sylvain didn’t have the luxury to deal with that and so he did the only reasonable thing he could do: he yanked Dimitri up and started carrying him. He cursed under his breath as he hauled the man and continued his path to escape. But the small interference from Dimitri had caused the men in black to reach them. Sylvain was having to shoot more bullets than he had planned in the beginning of the mission and having to take more detours as well. 

“Who are you?” Dimitri growled, his body tensed with each shot Sylvain fired. 

“I already introduced myself sweetheart” Sylvain gritted out, the younger man simply frowned at him. They both knew what Dimitri was talking about but Sylvain didn’t have the luxury to just have this conversation with the man. 

_Poker where are you?_

He pressed on the head piece, the mic having turned off in the explosion. “I’m busy right now Vulture!” He hissed at Hubert, rounding the corner and immediately having to dodge back as shots flew past him. “I was told this was an easy mission! Not a damn war zone.” 

_We know. We don’t know how they all got there but that doesn’t matter. You need to get the target out of there, now._

“That’s easier said that done” he groaned before taking a deep breath and peering out the corner, shooting off two rounds and then hiding back around the corner. Changing the magazine (with extreme difficulty since he only had one hand) and then once again peering out the corner and getting rid of the rest of the men there. 

_Go east. Lockjaw and Fable are clearing a path for you._

“Copy that.” Thankfully for him, he had already been heading East and the building itself was actually not as big as Sylvain had expected and so after more detours and shots being fired, he saw the familiar bright blue hair in a hallway. 

“Sy-Poker!” The man instantly beamed at him as Sylvain ran over to him. “The path down this way is completely empty. I’ll watch your back.” Caspar then turned to Dimitri, his face quickly morphed to something akin to cringe but before he could say anything stupid to the poor man that was bleeding out by the second, Sylvain pushed past him. 

“Thanks” he breathed out, running past the man and down the straight hallway, ignoring all the piles of buddies that were littered throughout and finally bursting out of one of the emergency exits to the empty alleyway. He looked up then and found Bernadetta in the building besides the ballroom with her own rifle sniping anyone she could see from where she was perched. 

He tapped his head piece, “thanks Fable, keep an eye for me okay?” 

_O-Okay!_

He smiled slightly before running out of the alley way and towards where he had left his car. Thankfully, the explosion had caused all the streets to be cluttered with panicked people and it wasn’t so weird for him to be running out with someone that was bleeding if anything he wasn’t the only one in that position. Multiple other men and women were dragging injured and bleeding people from the building as the gunshots and fire kept roaring. 

“Who are you” Dimitri growled into his ear, looking back at the direction they had come from. The man was clearly afraid but mainly Sylvain could tell that he was frustrated about everything that was going on around him.

Sylvain sighed, “right now is not the time to explain anything. Just know that I’m trying to help you.” 

He didn’t take too long to talk however, he didn’t have the luxury or the time to do that and so he just pushed past people, running and making sure to still keep his eyes peeled for any more people following him until he reached his car. Much like himself, his car also stood out and was a showstopper, something done on purpose. A red Veyron Bugatti that looked just like something a rich pompous bastard would own and not a man that worked in what he did but like Sylvain, the car had been specifically modified to be probably the best car in the entire strike force apart from Edelgard’s hummer (or ‘the tank’ as everyone called it). 

He quickly unlocked it and shoved Dimitri in the passenger seat, “Look. Trust me okay?” 

“I just met you” Dimitri spat, his face pale from blood loss and although the man was back to covering his eye with his hand, Sylvain knew that the injury was worse than he thought and that it was those two things that were the only reason why Dimitri wasn’t bashing his head to the ground and was instead in some haze like docile state. 

“Yeah well” Sylvain chuckled nervously. “You’re just gonna have to trust me.” 

He slammed the car door. Looking up to the side just in time to find his eyes once again locking on with Dedue’s. The man, understandably, looked two seconds from maiming him if it hadn’t been for the fact that he was holding a very injured Ingrid in his arms. Felix was beside him with Rodrigue leaning on his shoulder, also very clearly injured. The younger man had also apparently seen what he had just done based on the murderous look he was throwing his way, and for the first time for a very long time, Sylvain decided that Edelgard was not the person he feared angering. 

However Sylvain was snapped out of that eye contact when he felt more than heard shots being fired at him, one of them hitting his left leg. He cursed before pointing his gun towards where he saw the men shooting at him, shooting at them as he ran over to the drivers side. It was then that the men started falling, Bernadetta surely getting rid of them to give him time to get in the car and drive away.

“You were shot” Dimitri for some reason, pointed that out once Sylvain managed to get inside. 

“Yeah no shit” he gritted out, quickly turning on the car and reversed out of his spot, however the gun shots had caused the people to scatter and so he was forced to think strategically as to how he was going to head out without killing innocent people. Though that was quickly decided for him when four motorcycles appeared, zigzagging through the people and dispersing them all so that they could get to Sylvain. He cursed loudly, stepping on the gas and reversing back and quickly turning the wheel so that he made a half circle. One of the motorcyclists slamming on the side of his car while the others were able to swerve away. 

He gritted his teeth as he changed gears, rolling down his window and shooting one of them in the chest and the other at its bike’s wheels and then speeding away from them. His tires screeched and the burn of rubber caused his eyes to sting but he powered through. He sped past all of the people and into the street. Looking back at his rear view mirror to find that those three had been quickly replaced with four other motorcycles. 

“Route me!” He yelled out, not caring that he was going 95 on what looked like a road that was meant to be 40. 

_One second everything’s gone to shit over here._

“We don’t have one second!” It was then that the motorcyclists started shooting at his car causing Dimitri to duck down and Sylvain to jump and roll his front window back up, thankfully his windows were bullet proof but his tires sure as hell weren’t so Sylvain was getting increasingly worried. “Linhardt!” 

His ear piece crinkled and crack until Edelgarths voice was now speaking into his ear. _Take whatever route you can to get back here. We’ll clean up any mess that gets made._

“Loud and clear boss” he gritted out before taking a sharp right turn into an alleyway. Driving out of the busy streets and into more secluded areas. Not slowing down and even plowing throw a wired fence, his car groaning and screeching with each move he made that was especially unkind to it. But he couldn’t fret over that, the cyclist still behind him though he had managed to lower the number from 4 to 2. 

Dimitri cursed under his breath as he turned to look back, “If you go down that way there shou—“ 

“Fuck!” He had barely managed to swerve away from 3 motorcyclist that had been waiting from him at the other end of the alley, his car skidding across the road wildly. “Fucken shit” he hissed, pressing on the gas once he regained control and barreling past the line of cyclist, uncaring of whether or not he had ran any of them over or not. His car going airborne as he sped past multiple speed bumps. “Get off my fucken dick and stop shooting my car!” He spat out in anger, growing increasingly angry at the people following him. He looked up on his rear view mirror to find that the number of cyclists was now 9. 

That was his final straw. 

“Fine you want to play this game assholes, then let’s fucken play” he growled, shifting gears and then stepping on his gas. He had once been asked by Dorothea why he had bothered to spend so much money on a “stupid sport car” and he had never really given her a direct answer. However if he had, it would have been this: this car can go very _very_ fast. That was an understatement in a matter of 60 seconds he was already reaching speeds of 120 km/h and had the max speed of over 400 km/h. Maybe this was also why Edelgard had asked him for this mission, she knew that worst come to worst, he would be able to escape quickly. And that he did, by the time that he slowed his car down to be driving back at a steady 90, he could see that he was in the outskirts of the city— and no motorcycles in sight.

He sighed in relief, “out of the water, no longer being tailed.” He heard cheering from the other side of the line and Caspars distinct ‘fuck yeah!’. 

_Poker. Head to Crack Point, we clearly don’t know what we’re up against and you coming back with the target will only put him in danger. Wait there until further notice, okay?_

__“Alright but boss heads up” he breathed out, the adrenaline now leaving his body and making him very aware of the gunshot wound he had on his leg. “Fraldarius’ men saw me put the target in my car. That and the target is seriously injured and I was shot. I’m going to need medical help for him.”_ _

___Where was he injured?_ _ _

__“Target’s face, eye area and some other smaller injuries from the explosion. Mine is on my leg, thigh area, I can still walk but I’ll be slow.”_ _

___Head to Crack Point and I’ll send Drowse your way. As for Fraldarius I’ll handle him personally._ _ _

__Sylvain swallowed, “will do boss.”_ _

__He sighed, leaning back on his seat and looking over to Dimitri. The man slumped over to the side, despite the fact that he was heavily injured, Sylvain could safely say he was absolutely terrified at the look the blonde was giving him. “In the glove box I have bandages you can use to stop the bleeding.”_ _

__“Where are you taking me?”_ _

__“Somewhere safe.”_ _

__“Then I can assume you’re taking me back to my home?” Sylvain didn’t miss the bitter sarcasm that came out. Sylvain sighed, keeping his eyes on the road and deciding that not replying would be the easier thing to do for now._ _

__Dimitri groaned in pain, adjusting himself in his seat. He was shaking, probably both from the pain and adrenaline as the blonde curled himself away from him. “You are a lousy kidnapper if you’re allowing me to look out the window.”_ _

__“You’ll probably pass out soon anyways.” He mumbled before turning his radio on and letting himself ignore the prince until they reached Crack Point._ _

* * *

__‘Crack Point’ was a discreet cabin located between Arianrhod and Gaspard. It was a densely forested area and also a tourist hot spot so two men spending their time in a cabin alone from the world would not be question. It especially wouldn’t be questioned when that area was owned by Edelgard herself and so Sylvain could safely say this was the best spot for him and Dimitri to lay low._ _

__Dragging the blonde man (who had passed out twenty minutes into the drive) had been harder than he would admit, he had managed to put a tourniquet on his own leg and patched up Dimitri on a stop while he had driven them both here but he had clearly lost a lot of blood and mix that with the fact that he couldn’t put much if not any weight on his leg and well. Had it not been for both Linhardt and Petra waiting there for them at the cabin, he’s sure he wouldn’t have been able to drag the man inside. The injury that Dimitri had was bad but not drastic. According to Linhardt, the cut didn’t actually hit the man's eye and it had been bleeding as much as it had because face injuries “just bled like that sometimes”. Dimitri wouldn’t lose his eye but it would be in an eyepatch for now and probably until they could get him to a proper hospital once things calmed down._ _

__Between the three of them, they managed to secure the cabin as well as tie Dimitri down. Yes the blonde wasn’t technically dangerous and he hadn’t kidnapped the man or was holding him hostage. However, they weren’t a stupid enough to think that Dimitri would wake up and be completely okay with having a nice peaceful conversation as to how and why he had arrived in this cabin with them._ _

__Linhardt was halfway through rebandaging Sylvain’s wound when they felt eyes on them, Dimitri waking up silently. He ignored it at first of course, too busy making sure that Linhardt wasn’t bandaging him up weirdly (the man was known for cutting corners after all)._ _

__“Where am I?” Dimitri’s voice was calm but Sylvain could hear the hint of not just hesitance but anger. Deep anger._ _

__“Near Gaspard. Needed to get you out of Fhirdiad so that you wouldn’t die” he answered nonchalantly as Linhardt stood up and walked out of the room, probably to avoid talking with the prince. “I didn’t kidnap you” he spoke, hobbling to the couch that was in front of Dimitri._ _

__The man glared at him as he sat up from the bed, “I find that hard to believe” he growled._ _

__Sylvain sighed, “look I get what it looks like and seriously, I’m sorry for taking you. But going back to your own people isn’t safe.”_ _

__“And it’s safer here with you?”_ _

__He breathed in slowly, he knew he couldn’t out right tell Dimitri all about his line of work since that would be a bridge of privacy for the strike force, he could however, under Edelgards orders, tell him some things to ease away any kind of worry or anxiety._ _

__“Look, I’m highly trained in these kinds of things. As you saw back there, I can protect you better than your own men and have more resources than they do. The group that was targeting you is also someone that I’ve...dealt with before” he sighed. “The explosions in the gala was child’s play compared to what they can actually do.”_ _

__Dimitri frowned, “you expect me to believe everything you’re saying?”_ _

__“Believe what you want. Just know that you’re alive because of me and not because of your men. Had it not been for my quick thinking you would be dead.”_ _

__The man didn’t say anything to that, just continued glaring holes into him. Now, Sylvain mused, he looked like a Viking lord ready to crush his head with his bare hands. Sylvain shrugged, “look. If I had any bad intentions don’t you think I would have already acted on them?”_ _

__“Not if you’re looking for money.”_ _

__That made Sylvain cackle, the redhead’s body shaking with laughter before he looked back at Dimitri. “Please pumpkin. I have all the money I could ever want.”_ _

__“So what makes you think that I’ll believe you’re not with them?” Dimitri’s voice was cold, it sent a shiver directly down Sylvain’s back._ _

__He could only sigh, getting up from the couch and walking over to Dimitri, the man eyed him wearily like a cornered predator eyeing a hunter. Sylvain just sighed again before uncuffing the younger man. Instantly Dimitri was on his feet and grabbed him by the throat, slamming the redhead on the wall, pinning him and crushing his throat with his hand. But when Sylvain made no move to struggle or defend himself, there was clear confusion and hesitance._ _

__“Go on then. Kill your captor” Sylvain coughed and wheezed, clearly uncaring of whether Dimitri actually killed him or not._ _

__Dimitri frowned, “why?”_ _

__“Why?” Sylvain chuckled, grabbing the man's wrist carefully and doing his best to talk despite the hand that was strangling him. “I told you I didn't kidnap you. I’m here to keep you safe so you can choose to kill me and run or you can believe everything I’m saying and stay here in this cabin.”_ _

__Hesitantly, Dimitri let go of his neck still frowning at the redhead, “why are you doing this?”_ _

__“I don’t tend to question my missions” he coughed. “Though if we’re being honest, you are inexcusably hot and I wouldn’t mind getting compensation for my troubles, if you get what I mean” Sylvain winked at the blond. The younger man scoffed at him before he sat back down on the bed. His eye never strayed from Sylvain, piercing and calculating. For the first time in a very long time, Sylvain felt like prey being led to slaughter._ _

__“Who do you work for?”_ _

__“You have to realize that I can’t tell you that,” Sylvain answered._ _

__“I’m very aware that there are other government organizations that are more...overt” Dimitri mumbled the last word. “I highly doubt whatever you answer will come as a surprise to me.”_ _

__Sylvain hummed before answering, “then you must know I can’t tell you who I work for unless given direct permission. I am assuming that you know what will happen to you if you come across information you’re not supposed to know.”_ _

__Dimitri squinted his eye at him which in Sylvain’s opinion, was entirely unnecessary. However those thoughts came to a stark halt when Linhardt burst through the door._ _

__“You have to get out now” he hissed as he grabbed his medical bag and threw it at Sylvain. The redhead was about to question him when he heard gunshots from the living room._ _

__He was instantly on his feet, slinging the bag over his shoulder before grabbing Dimitri’s hand and leading him out of the room. The gunshots kept going from the living room where surely Petra was covering them. “How did they get here” he hissed at Linhardt, the man running besides them._ _

__“Targets phone started ringing before we could dispose of it, we’re thinking that they pinned us using that” Linhardt groaned as they arrived at the door that led to the garage just in time for Petra to show up, running towards them._ _

__“Drowse and me will cover. Take target and head away.”_ _

__“Stay safe” he nodded before immediately dragging Dimitri into the garage, thankful that he had filled up his car with the gas they had on stock._ _

__“We are just leaving them behind” Dimitri asked as he got into the passenger seat of the car._ _

__“They’re both trained to handle this” Sylvain answered, slamming his car door and turning it on. The car lights flickered and the engine warmed up as Sylvain leaned down and pushed a button that was under his seat and watched as the touch screen of his car flickered and showed a code pad. He put in his own code and then waited for the familiar click which meant he was connected. “Poker to nest. Come in.”_ _

__There was a slight crackle in his speakers before he heard Lysithea’s voice. _This is Velvet._ _ _

__“We’ve been compromised, they found our location” he explained as he turned to Dimitri. “Buckle in and hold on. You know I’m not the greatest driver already.”_ _

__The blonde cursed under his breath as he did just that barely in time for Sylvain to open the garage and reverse back fast enough that Dimitri’s head was thrown back against his seat. The younger man cursed as Sylvain whipped the car around and he only cursed more once men in black jumped out of the woods and started shooting at them._ _

__“Damnit!”_ _

__“Told you they were after you sweetheart” Sylvain groaned before stepping on the gas and speeding away. “Nest, I need orders!”_ _

___Don’t yell at me! I’m trying to get a hold of Vulture or Emperor but neither are picking up!_ _ _

__“Then get Songbird!” He yelled out in frustration, sharply turning to the right and flying right into the interstate, not bothering to ponder where to head and just floored it and headed north._ _

___Songbird here, status._ _ _

__“We were attacked, Drowse and Huntress stayed to cover for us. Drowse thinks that they used the target phone to track us though I doubt that since I had it jammed with my own. So if they found us it’s because they knew where to look. I’m heading North as we speak” Sylvain explained, looking at his rear view mirror to make sure that they were not being followed, though he doubted that they would be since he was still going faster than any normal car could manage._ _

___Goddess above, alright, for now our biggest priority is getting the target into a safe place._ _ _

__“Clearly.”_ _

___If you’re correct about them knowing your location then that means we have a rat._ _ _

__Sylvain’s hands clenched on the steering wheel, he had guessed as much but hearing it said out loud really angered him because whoever it was had not only betrayed them but was actively trying to get him killed at this point._ _

__“Then I’ll take the target somewhere that’s not on our systems, keep that information to myself until you catch the rat.” He heard Ferdinand hum before his speakers crackled again with the man's voice._ _

___These are your orders. Protect the target above all costs and do not make contact with anyone. Assume everyone but Emperor, Vulture, or I are traitors. Find a safe place and hold down until we figure this out. We will contact you when we do._ _ _

__“Yes sir.”_ _

___And Poker... stay safe._ _ _

__Sylvain smiled, “you got it.” With that he ended the transmission and finally slowed the car down. Fidgeting and tapping his finger on the steering wheel, trying to come up with a place that he could deam safe enough to take Dimitri to. His immediate go to would be his own home in Leicester however, if there was a rat then that meant that it wouldn’t be a far guess for them to think they knew where he lived._ _

__“Wouldn’t suppose you have a secret hideaway that no one but you knows about” he leaned to Dimitri, the poor man still gripping onto the roof's handle for dear life._ _

__“No.”_ _

__He sighed, tapping his fingers again as he went through his brain's archives of where he could go before his brain supplied a nice simple solution. It was the smartest and also the safest but also one that made him audibly groan as he switched lanes and changed where he was heading._ _

__Dimitri frowned but before he could question him Sylvain spoke up, “do you know how to speak Srengish?”_ _

* * *

__Getting into Sreng was easy, but getting into Sreng also meant that he had to reveal two secrets to Dimitri that he could have lived without. For starters, the exact part of Sreng they were going to was the city of Gautier; once upon a time it had actually been part of Fodland but that was only because Fodland had stolen it for a good couple of years until they finally gave it back in order to try and amend relations. So Gautier was actually a really easy city for Fodlanders to gain access to since it was such a hot spot for history buffs and tourists, making it the perfect place for a getaway._ _

__And also Sylvain was born in Gautier._ _

__Luckily for him, he had learned Fodland tongue from a very young age and so he didn’t have an accent. If anything, years of not speaking Srengish meant that he now had a slight accent speaking his native language instead of his secondary one. So that was the first nugget of information that Dimitri had regrettably come to learn when they were passing the border and Sylvain wiped out his ID that showed that he was native to Sreng._ _

__This was also when the second secret about him had to be revealed._ _

__The border patrol officer frowned, looking at the ID and then back to him and then back to the card. “Alice Josephine Gautier, you don’t look like an Alice to me.”_ _

__Sylvain chuckled nervously, “don’t go by that name anymore, just haven’t gotten all the paperwork done just yet.”_ _

__The man looked him over, “you one of those trans?” Sylvain hated how the man somehow managed to say that sentence with disgust._ _

__“Yup. Uh. That’s me” he chuckled again. The man hummed in disapproval as he stepped away with his ID and Dimitri’s own fake ID Sylvain managed to make for the man. Sylvain instantly deflated, leaning his forehead on the steering wheel and groaned. He was an idiot for not making his own fake ID that way he could have just avoided all of this._ _

__It didn’t take long before the man walked back and handed the ID’s back to him. “Make sure to change the name on this, next time we’ll need proof.”_ _

__“Thanks officer,” his smile was tense as he rolled up his window and drove away. Putting the ID’s away quietly, his eyes stuck on the road ahead._ _

__“He was terrible” Dimitri finally broke the sentence, the man mumbled as he leaned back on his seat._ _

__Sylvain couldn’t help but chuckle, “yeah well, welcome to Sreng. Everyone here is like that sadly.”_ _

__Dimitri frowned, “then why did we come here?”_ _

__He sighed, rubbing his face with his hand. “No one in my organization knows I’m a Srengi or that I uh, that I’m trans. And well my last name isn’t that uncommon in Fodland so no one’s really put two and two together that I’m actually from Gautier. There’s no legal record in this world that can tie Poker from Fodland to Alice from Sreng” he cringed at his deadname. “So this is the safest place to escape to. That and well. The place we’ll be staying at I know will be safe enough for tonight.”_ _

__“Mathew Gautier” Dimitri mumbled before frowning. “That can’t be your name.”_ _

__That made him genuinely laugh (partially because he hadn’t realized that Dimitri still thought Mathew was his name), “no goddess no, that was just my name for that night” he grinned at the blonde. “Sylvain Jose Gautier.”_ _

__Dimitri nodded before turning to look at the streets that were lined with people and mumbled in awe. “...everyone here is so tall..”_ _

__Sylvain chuckled, “well more like everyone in Fodland is tiny. Though I’ll say, that was a major boost for my self esteem that I’m considered tall where you’re from.” That earned a small chuckle from the blonde which caused him to smile, that was the first positive reaction he had gotten from the man since they had left the gala._ _

__Driving down Gautier was relatively easy because Sylvain knew the ins and outs of the city and how to avoid traffic. An hour into driving, he was out of the nuzzling city and to the outskirts of Gautier until he was met with dirt roads that his car did not enjoy but to be fair, his car had gone through hell and back and so he could muster a couple of minutes more until Sylvain pulled up to a familiar farm._ _

__“Alright, before we get off. One. This is my mother's farm, she lives by the iron clad rule of ‘you sleep under her roof then you follow her rules’. She’s nice and will be more than happy to accommodate but she’s also the scariest woman I’ve ever met” Sylvain warned Dimitri. “And also, my brother lives here with her. He and I have history but are better so if there’s any awkward moments just ignore it and let it slide. We’re working on shit.”_ _

__“And your dad?”_ _

__“Not here. My mom divorced him after the third time he gave her a black eye, so don’t bring him up unless you want to sleep with the pigs” he shrugged before unbuckling himself and opening his door, stopping to turn to the man. “Also if they ask, you and I are friends that we met at my old job which was bartending. Currently I work as a freelance artist and I make _amazing_ oil portraits. You are not a prince, you are a fitness trainer that is the best in Garreg Mach. Got it?” _ _

__Dimitri frowned, ”I have the right to say you were not a good coworker.”_ _

__“I’ll give you that” Sylvain shrugged before they both got out of his car._ _

__The smell of manure and _farm_ hit Sylvain’s nose causing him to feel dizzy with nostalgia. He looked around the farm entrance, his eye catching some of the roosters walking freely around and eyeing them warily as they walked up the steps to the front door. Sylvain breathed in before knocking on the door. Dimitri shifted on his feet anxiously before the door was swung wide open and they were staring at Sylvain’s mother. Her hair, a bright orange with tight curls and freckles covering her cheeks. She was, regrettably, taller than them both but where that would usually be intimidating, her smile squished that thought down instantly. _ _

__“Josie! My baby boy” his mother cooed as she smothered him in a hug and plastered kisses all over his cheeks._ _

__“Hi mama, I missed you too” he chuckled, pulling away and kissing her cheek._ _

__“I didn’t know you were coming here, you should have warned me” she chided, lightly slapping his arm before turning to Dimitri, clearly having not noticed the man. “Oh! You brought a friend.”_ _

__“Yeah” Sylvain chuckled before pointing at Dimitri and speaking in Fodland since his mother had obviously been talking in their native tongue since they were in _Sreng_. “This is Dimitri. My friend.” _ _

__“Oh. OH! Oh I am sorry, I was speaking in the wrong language. It is so nice to meet you, my name is Evalina but you can feel free to call me Eva,” She smiled at Dimitri , the man looking shell shocked at the hospitality._ _

__“The pleasure is all mine ma’am” Dimitri spoke with a smile that looked fitting for a fairy tale prince._ _

__“Oh but come in come in, it’s about to rain after all” his mother spoke, waving them inside and Sylvain was happy to know that his family home still felt like _home_. It was cluttered with knickknacks and paintings (that he had actually painted himself to his embarrassment) but it was still neatly organized in the way that Sylvain was so fond of. _ _

__“Mik! **MIK**!” His mother yelled out, the level of how loud she was clearly shocking Dimitri and making the man jump since his mother looked like a very thin woman who usually spoke like one of those dainty noble women from the 1800’s. “YOUR BROTHER IS HERE WITH A FRIEND! COME SAY HELLO!” _ _

__Sylvain heard the wood floor creak before his brother popped into the room, clearly the man looked like he had just finished tending to the animals, mud caked on his boots and dirt covering his hands and face. Other than that, Miklan looked just the same as the last time Sylvain had seen him. Mean, harsh, and unnecessarily tall to add on to the asshole look he was sporting. He looked Sylvain over before turning to look at Dimitri and giving him the same unamused look over._ _

__“Hey.”_ _

__Instantly his mother walked over to him and slapped his arm, “Your manners Miklan!”_ _

__Miklan rolled his eyes, “welcome to our humble abode. I hope you enjoy your stay at this luxury resort.” The man spoke with a thick accent but his boredom and sarcasm was still clearly present._ _

__Sylvain couldn’t help but laugh, “it’s fine mama, Dimitri isn’t one for lengthy introductions anyways.”_ _

__His mother huffed, glaring at Miklan before turning to Dimitri. “Are you hungry dear?”_ _

__The younger man knew better than to turn down food especially from a very hospitable mother, those were the ones you _never_ could turn down food even if you wanted to. “I can help you cook.” _ _

__“No no” she waved him away, “no need for that dear, I was already cooking lunch I’ll just add some more to what I already had so it’ll be enough for all of us.” She smiled at him before walking away and towards the kitchen._ _

__Sylvain shrugged at Dimitri before walking out of the entrance hall and attempting to follow his mother before he felt Miklan’s hand on his chest. “You both look fucked.” The older man frowned at him._ _

__“It’s rude to point out people’s imperfections,” he smiled as he batted his eyelashes. Miklan was clearly not believing his act but Miklan being Miklan, didn’t push it. He just scoffed at him, shook his head, pushed past him._ _

__“Just don’t fucken leech off mom.”_ _

__Sylvain’s jaw clenched, “yeah well last time I recall, I’m not the one still living with her.”_ _

__He didn’t turn around to look at Miklan but he heard the mans steps stop, old memories instantly resurfaced and before he knew it his entire body was waiting for the worst to happen. His hands clenched by his side and his body slowly shrinked away. A baited second passed before he heard his brother walk away. He sighed in relief, before turning to Dimitri with a smile. “Food?”_ _

__Lunch was honestly a big success. It turned out that Dimitri, when he wasn’t pissed off in a cabin or drugged in a car, was a well mannered kind of guy. Yeah he didn’t speak much since Sylvain quickly learned the man was a terrible liar but his mother and him talked enough for the whole room. His mother especially talked the most to Dimitri since she was so excited to finally meet one of Sylvain’s friends from Fodland since he had never brought anyone here to meet her. His brother on the other hand kept his comments to a minimum but still asked enough to give Sylvain the feeling that his brother felt like him and Dimitri were fucking which, that would be _great_ but sadly, was not the case. _ _

__By the end of lunch though, even his mom was starting to think that Dimitri was there as his ‘boyfriend’ and was even more enamored by that thought. Going as far as to sneakily whisper in Srengish to Sylvain to “keep this one” whenever Dimitri would do something nice or polite. He could only shake his head at those comments and sigh because even if he flat out denied this, both his mother and brother would never believe that just a friend from his old job, would come all the way to Sreng to meet them when he had never brought anyone else before. That was fine he guessed, it could be worse._ _

__He was feeding the pigs their dinner scraps when he heard footsteps behind him, turning to the side slightly to find Dimitri leaning against the fence looking at the pigs with what could only be described as hesitant appreciation._ _

__“My mom finally let you go?”_ _

__Dimitri nodded, “she talks a lot....” he mumbled. “You inherited that from her.”_ _

__Sylvain laughed at that, “yeah. And my good looks too, the only thing that’s not from her is my hair but everything else it’s my mom.”_ _

__Dimitri hummed, “you don’t look like someone that was raised on a farm.”_ _

__“Is that an insult or a compliment? I can't tell with you.”_ _

__Dimitri shook his head, “no it was just a comment. You just gave off the air of someone who didn’t live like this before when we talked at the gala.”_ _

__“That’s because I didn’t. My dad’s a famous business man here, he owns one of the biggest banks in Sreng. I lived in that world until I was 12 years old” he answered, deeming it no longer necessary to keep things from Dimitri since the man knew his two best kept secrets anyways, that and he figured that opening up to the man would just make it easier for the two to get along in the long run. He grabbed his bucket and signaled Dimitri to follow him to the chicken coupe._ _

__“One night my mom snuck into my bedroom, told me to get dressed and keep quiet. She shoved me in the car and then headed back inside to get my brother and then we drove off into the dead of night. Apparently she had heard that my father was planning on disowning my brother and so she tried to stop him and he, well, wasn’t persuaded. My mother figured keeping her son instead of her shitty abusive husband was the best move to make. Took me along because she knew leaving me with my dad would be the best way for me to get fucked up.”_ _

__He unlatched the fence that led to the chicken coupe, leaving it open so that Dimitri could follow and then threw grains and kernels on the floor until he was surrounded by chickens like some kind of mosiah. “For some reason my mom decided to get a farm and so here we are,” he smiled, waving at the hoarde of chickens near him, his eyes scanning around until he found what he was looking for. “There you are! Come here Honey, you cocky bitch” he cooed as he watched the most ridiculous looking bird swanter out of it’s house, the white feathered bird bobbed her head as she walked over to Sylvain who promptly scooped her up with a smile, kissing her little head before turning to Dimitri. “This is Honey. She’s my pride and joy and my very first pet.”_ _

__“What... is that” Dimitri hesitantly spoke, looking at Honey like she was the goddess’ worst mistake._ _

__“She is a chicken. A silkie chicken to be exact” he smiled fondly at the bird. Honey’s feathers were a fluffy mess of Pom poms and her top feathers were currently pulled with a small knitted headband that gave her a more ridiculous look that was still adorable if he was being honest._ _

__“She’s...something,” Dimitri smiled hesitantly, unsure whether or not Honey was actually a bird or just some strange abomination. His face scrunched up in confusion and Sylvain couldn’t help but laugh at the man._ _

__“I’ll have you know she’s won multiple beauty pageants” Sylvain mused as he scratched the bird's chin before laying another kiss to her head and putting her down on the floor to let her eat. “She’s very beautiful to me.”_ _

__“Uh-huh” Dimitri mumbled, still looking at Honey before turning to look at him. “Anyways I thought I should tell you that your mom told me she’s giving me her blessing to ask you to marry me.”_ _

__Sylvain was a spluttering mess as he coughed into his hand and tried to gain back his footing before looking at Dimitri, feeling his face turn into a crimson red. “She did what?!”_ _

__Much to his horror, Dimitri looked amused by his situation. “She gave me her blessing to marry you.”_ _

__It was somehow worse to hear it a second time. He groaned, feeling his face get hotter and hotter as he looked away from Dimitri and fidgeted. “Fucken— why would she do that” he mumbled to himself, covering his face with his hand and wishing the ground could just swallow him up. He breathed out, steeling himself to look at Dimitri through the cracks of his fingers only to find that the sick son of a bitch had the gall, THE GALL, to be grinning at him._ _

__“This isn’t funny!”_ _

__“It’s pretty funny.”_ _

__He pouted at him and all that earned him was a smile from the man, who then looked down at Honey who was now right next to his foot and bobbing her head at him. “What? Are you here to give me your blessing too?”_ _

__“DIMITRI!”_ _

* * *

__He was laying on his bed as he scrolled through his phone, having shut it off for the entire time that they had traveled up to Sreng for protection sake. However, now that they were in Sreng, he was able to make it so that his location couldn’t be tapped into and that he could now use it to talk to the others. He hummed quietly, scrolling through the messages he had received. One from Bernadetta, three from Caspar, four from Dorothea, and one lone message from Hubert._ _

__He sighed, sitting up with his back resting on his bed frame as he opened Hubert’s chat._ _

___Call when you’ve secured a safe location. Only to my phone._ _ _

__He sighed again before dialing the number, looking around his room that was barren of anything that was _his_ since his mom had turned it into a guest room after he moved out. The phone rang two times before it was picked up. _ _

__“Poker.”_ _

__“Hi,” he drawled out his greeting, smiling at the huff he heard from the man._ _

__“I assume you—“_ _

__“Wait wait,” Sylvain interrupted the man and earned himself an even more aggravated huff from the other end of the line. “Answer me this so I know you’re not an imposter. For your bachelor party what color cake did I buy for you?”_ _

__If the last huff was aggravated this was borderline murderous. “How many times must I tell you Sylvain that Ferdinand and I are _not together_ and therefore have never been _engaged_. So to answer your question there was no cake since there was no bachelor party and even if I ever have one of those vile disgusting things you would be far from the list of attendees” Hubert snarled. _ _

__“You can’t tell me you and Ferdinand aren’t together when I accidentally walked in on you and him fucking in your office. I’ve kept my mouth shut but trust me, I know what I saw.”_ _

__“You’re delusional.”_ _

__“September 27th. You were wearing a purple tie and Ferdinand had just come back from a mission in Leicester.”_ _

__There was silence on the other end of the line until Hubert hesitantly spoke up. “You will die if you speak of what you saw.”_ _

__“Duly noted.”_ _

__“But as I was saying, I can assume that you have secured a safe location since you’ve called me” Hubert immediately pushed past the awkward conversation of Sylvain having walked in on them having sex and jumped right into the subject at hand._ _

__“Yes.” He lowered his voice then so that he could be sure no one in the house could hear him. “I was ordered to keep that classified though so I’ll need either Songbird or Emperor to override that command.”_ _

__“Not needed. It’s better we don’t know where you’re at” Hubert answered. “What’s your status?”_ _

__“Target’s safe and secured. He’s giving full cooperation to this so it’s been easy going now that we’ve settled down and got on the same page” he answered._ _

__“Good. Here’s the rundown of what has transpired.” Sylvain seriously loved how to the point Hubert was. He never had to bother with idle talk like he sometimes did with Ferdinand back when Sylvain had been temporarily put in the man’s team to cover Caspar’s work load after the blue haired man had been put on bed rest for two weeks. He never thought he could miss working for Hubert until that day._ _

__“Kronya made contact with Fraldarius, however the people she worked with had also left some of their men with him so once Emperor and I arrived we had to engage. No one was seriously hurt and Fraldarius and Emperor are now on the same page and she has been in constant contact with him since then. Lockjaw and Songstress are with Fraldarius to add to their security while Velvet is looking into Kronya and how they were able to track you. Drowse and Huntress are fine and we have the rest out in the streets hunting.”_ _

__Sylvain hummed before responding, “any change to my orders?”_ _

__“None. I will contact you through here from now on. Do not speak to anyone else as Songbird told you and do not let the target contact anyone else.” Sylvain found the last part unnecessary since Dimitri had made no attempts to try and contact anyone since he understood the position he was in._ _

__“Will you require hourly updates?”_ _

__“No. Only once every night unless something has happened. The less we know about you and the target, the better.”_ _

__“Yes sir.”_ _

__“Good. Then that is all” Hubert said before the line cut off and Sylvain was left leaning on the bed frame and sighing. He was clearly exhausted. He hadn’t been able to sleep in the past 60 hours and he was still dealing with the wound on his leg. Even still, he couldn’t necessarily take a break when he was still on the clock. Yes he was sure that they were safe here in Sreng but that didn’t mean he could put his guard down. He’d done that mistake before and was the reason why he had nearly had his head blown off during one of his first missions._ _

__His room door slowly creaked open as Dimitri walked in, his hair wet from the shower he had been taking. He looked better though, the first word that came to his head was “fresh”. Sylvain was wholly aware that he was far from that kind of description._ _

__“I left you some hot water” Dimitri pointed towards the hallway and made his way through the room towards the bag that Sylvain had given him that held some clothes and toiletries._ _

__“Thanks though that’s fine” he sighed, he wished he could take a shower, truly. He hated feeling gross and icky but he couldn’t risk leaving Dimitri alone for that long. Only reason he hadn’t been right there with Dimitri while he showered was because the restroom only had a small window that not even a chicken could squeeze through and the angle was shit so no one could snipe Dimitri from there even if they were a world class shot._ _

__Dimitri frowned, “I can survive for 20 minutes without you.”_ _

__“I know.”_ _

__The younger man sighed before walking over to him and grabbing his wrist before hauling him up and dragging him to the restroom. Pushing him inside and then following behind before closing the door and then sat on the toilet. “This should be fine for you, right?” He waved towards the shower though he was now flushing a deep scarlet red and pointedly not looking at Sylvain._ _

__The redhead couldn’t help but laugh, “what? Do I stink that bad?”_ _

__“You smell like blood.” Sylvain cringed as the blonde continued. “I can’t die if I’m here, right?”_ _

__“Yeah” he chuckled nervously before turning the shower on, a part of him incredibly thankful that Dimitri was willing to do this so that he could feel clean. Also, he was extremely thankful that over the years he had stopped being shy about being naked in front of others._ _

__He hadn’t been joking when he said that moving to Fodland had made his self esteem get higher. Just on the first day alone of him moving there, girls were flirting with him and he was _passing_. Not once had anyone ever misgendered him while he lived in Fodland because Fodland men weren’t very rugged or ginormous. In Sreng men were usually around 6’8 and women were around 6’4. He obviously fell in the short end of the spectrum in Sreng but in Fodland? He was _tall_ and people also said that he was _masculine_. Dorothea constantly told him that he had the back muscles of a god. In terms of built he was bigger than actual cis men like Linhardt and Hubert and he had never been more overjoyed. _ _

__And so that obviously led to his ego sky rocketing to the point that he was now completely naked in front of a man that he had met three days ago and just humming peacefully. He was completely relaxed and even sighed happily once the water got to the temperature he wanted, jumping into the shower and feeling absolutely in _bliss_. He had forgotten how much he loved showers, goddess above he loved showers so fucken much he could live in one for the rest of his life and die a happy man. _ _

__Dimitri on the other hand looked two seconds away from fainting. If it was possible to die from blushing too much— Dimitri would be dead right now. It was a little cute, Sylvain would admit that. The man acted like this wasn’t bothering him but here he was, looking at the door with intensity so that he didn’t look at him naked. Though Sylvain did also notice the small wandering glances that Dimitri tried to sneak past him. That was cute too. Sylvain didn’t mind being checked out, he knew he was hot and had a nice body. Again. His ego rivaled that of Ferdinands._ _

__“We’re going to leave tomorrow night,” Sylvain talked, lathering shampoo into his hair. “I would love to stay here longer, trust me, I’m tired of sitting in my car as much as you are. But I would really rather not drag my family into this, we stopped here because we had to but I already told my mom that you wanted to go sightseeing and so we’ll be leaving tomorrow.”_ _

__“Okay” Dimitri’s voice cracked before the man cleared his throat and tried again. “Okay, that is fine. Do you know where?”_ _

__“There’s a city about 10 hours from here called Gesso. It's not a tourist hot spot but the main reason why I want to head there is because there’s cabins you can rent out for a week and stay there. Srengi’s like their privacy and so no one will be close enough for us to worry” Sylvain explained before dipping his head back into the water to rinse the shampoo out._ _

__“Is a cabin safe? Did we not just run from one?”_ _

__“Yeah well first we’ll be going to the part of Sreng that doesn’t interact with Fodland so the people that are after us better hope to have a translator and that’s _if_ they track us down that far. And secondly the cabins in that place are up in the mountain and so the snow will make it so that they can’t sneak into the cabin without revealing themselves and also they have a small window of daylight since the further up north, the quicker the sun goes down. And finally, I highly doubt any Fodlander can handle Sreng‘s climate,” Sylvain mused. _ _

__“Wait— it’s July.”_ _

__Sylvain couldn’t help but chuckled, starting the strenuous process of scrubbing off the grime off his body. “It’s Sreng babe, we snow all year round. Only reason Gautier doesn’t have snow right now is because of the heat wave that came up from Fodland. There’s a reason my moms farm focuses on landstock and not crops.”_ _

__He heard Dimitri grumble and complain under his breath, “Do we even have the proper clothes?”_ _

__It was unreasonably adorable when Dimitri sounded like a petulant child and complained, Sylvain wanted nothing more than to kiss him at this very moment but instead, he answered his question. “No, but my mom is going out shopping tomorrow morning and offered to buy stuff for us in our steed. She goes ridiculously early so I didn’t even bother trying to go with her and she was pretty set on buying us stuff to uh” he coughed awkwardly. “Celebrate uh— us.”_ _

__“You realize me being here with you while you shower isn’t helping change that right?”_ _

__“I realize that! Though I will say this is the most I’ve ever talked when someone joins me in the shower” Sylvain mused, rinsing himself and looking around for something to put in his hair that could work as a conditioner but sadly, they were using Miklan’s restroom and the man used to bathe with 3 in 1 so Sylvain had been expecting too much from him. He would have to go to his mom's bathroom later to get something to control his frizz._ _

__He sighed, turning the water off and shaking some of it off his hair before poking his hand out of the shower curtain, “can you hand me a towel?” Dimitri mumbled something under his breath before Sylvain felt the towel hit his hand. “Thanks!”_ _

__“So once we get to that place what is our next move” Dimitri asked as Sylvain finished drying himself up, wrapping the towel around his waist and stepped out._ _

__“That’s the plan currently. Though it’s subject to change” he replied and immediately felt himself grin when Dimitri turned to look at him and then turned a hundred different shades of red. His eyes widened as he took in his appearance before he quickly turned around, his hand covering half his face to try and hide the blush that Sylvain had clearly seen._ _

__“Uh-huh, yes. Alright” Dimitri croaked out and Sylvain couldn’t help but chuckled, the younger man turning to frown at him, pointedly keeping his eyes on his face like if looking down would mean instant death. Sylvain had to correct that belief and winked at the man, Dimitri somehow managed to get even more flushed._ _

__Dimitri cursed under his breath before opening the restroom door and walked out, Sylvain couldn’t help but cackle as he followed the man into his bedroom, his dirty clothes in his arms. He laughed, dropping the dirty clothes and putting on his briefs._ _

__“We’ll be spending a lot of time together so I guess we can get to know each other” Sylvain chuckled nervously before turning to the man._ _

__“Yes I suppose” Dimitri mumbled._ _

__“Anyways here” Sylvain spoke as he finished getting dressed and grabbed Linhard’s bag. “Let me change your bandages on your eye._ _

__“Eye? Oh” Dimitri whispered, bringing a hand up to the now wet bandages. “...I forgot about that.”_ _

__“How do you forget about that?” He chuckled. “Then again, maybe the pills Drowse gave you are just that good huh?”_ _

__He walked over to the blonde, kneeling in front of him before slowly unraveling the bandages. It looked… pretty bad if he was being honest. He had to keep mentally telling himself that it was just swelling and irritation that made it look as bad as it did. That Dimitri wasn’t going to lose an eye and that at most, he would just have a cool looking scar after this._ _

__“I never asked how bad it is,” Dimitri whispered as Sylvain threw the used bandages to the side._ _

__“It’ll scar but you didn’t lose anything” he explained before getting to work on cleaning the wound and rebandaging. Dimitri for his part tried his best not to groan or complain but if Sylvain was being honest, he was sorely out of practice when it came to being “gentle” and so more times than not, Dimitri was flinching in pain from something he did. Still, the younger man didn’t say anything until he finished everything._ _

__He stood up, throwing the old bandages away before Dimitri hesitantly spoke up, “You said that no one in your force knows that you’re Srengi. Is it because they are all just Fodlanders?”_ _

__“You know I can’t tell you anything,” Sylvain sighed, he wanted to answer that, especially since it was such a harmless question but well. To answer that he would have to explain that not all were Fodlanders and then that would lead to him explaining that Petra was from Brigid and Shamir was from Dagda and well. That would be too much information to be giving out. Thankfully Dimitr sensed that and just nodded before walking over to sleep on the other side of the bed. There was only one other bed apart from Miklan’s and his moms so the two had to share. Neither minded at this point, both too tired to care._ _

__“I’ll wake you up tomorrow okay” Sylvain whispered as the two laid with their backs facing each other. Dimitri’s response was a small grumble and Sylvain quickly found himself drifting off to sleep after he heard the blonde begin to snore quietly._ _

* * *

__Sylvain wakes up to an empty bed and it takes him a total of two seconds to process that before his heart jackhammers out of his chest and he’s jumping out of his bed. There’s no need to call out to Dimitri, there’s no need to even look around. The bedroom is small enough that he should have already spotted him, if he’s not in the room then he’s somewhere else away from him._ _

__He doesn’t even bother to fix himself or change out of his clothes, he’s running out of the room and going down the stairs before he hears Dimitri’s voice. There’s both happiness and annoyance at hearing the blonde’s voice. He’s about to continue his run down the stairs to yell at him for leaving his side when he hears the other voice._ _

__“I must thank you for your hospitality” an older man's voice spoke, gruff and irritatingly familiar though Sylvain could not for the life of him say why._ _

__“Yeah well. If you’re my brother's friend then there’s nothing I can do” Miklan huffed as Sylvain heard the man walk around the room. “Though I guess you’re going to have to wait for him to come home. Apparently he went out with my mom.”_ _

__“Y-Yes, that’s exactly what he told me last night” Dimitri quickly explained._ _

__Sylvain didn’t have to listen into the conversation much longer to realize what was going on. With a curse he slowly walked back to his room, already trying to figure multiple things and how all of said things had gone terribly wrong._ _

__Why did he not wake up?_ _

__One quick look at his leg and the very clear irritated wound and his feverish skin and he had his answer. Infection. Because obviously somewhere along the way that happened. He’ll blame Linhardt for that even if it isn't his fault. It’ll just make him feel better about having apparently been completely knocked out enough that he hadn’t heard anything that had happened in the morning._ _

__How did they find them?_ _

__Yeah. No matter how much he thinks about that there’s no way that he’ll be able to come up with it so might as well not lose precious time worrying about that._ _

__Why is Dimitri lying?_ _

__Clearly in his sleeping state, something happened that Sylvain wasn’t there for but again, doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Dimitir must have put two and two together that this man was someone that was after him and then chose to keep things calm instead of panicking. He makes a mental note to thank him for that later, as much as he hates his brother, he doesn’t know how he would handle him getting in the crossfire of his line of work. He especially wouldn’t be able to handle anything if his mother had been here._ _

__He growls, grabbing his bag and digging for his knife and gun. Preferably, he’d like to end this in one go so he’ll lean heavy on using the gun. However, things clearly haven't been going his way so he’s not taking any chances._ _

__With one final inhale, he leaves his room again, gun loaded and knife secured at his waist (pajamas thankfully, baggy enough to conceal that). Slowly and quietly, Sylvain made his way down the stairs, keeping any eye out for any other person that could be in the house but after more careful inspection, he can see that it’s only the one man. A single car outside parked next to him, empty and most likely rigged with a gps to give out his location. Again. He’ll have to figure out all of that later._ _

__He turns the corner, only then does he have a clear look at who’s in the house with them. Thomas. Another slithery bastard, he realizes. And a big shot too which means that even if he disposes of this man here now, there might be more coming their way sooner rather than later._ _

__“Whatever, eat your fill, I have work to do” Miklan huffed as he stood up from the table. It was then that both of them made eye contact._ _

__Naturally, this is where Sylvain expects everything to hit the fan and him having to do a lot of fast action thinking. It’s not everyday, after all, that you find your little brother holding a gun and pointing it at the man that had been claiming he was a friend of his. He can only hold his breath and wait for Miklan's inevitable reaction to this but it, surprisingly, never comes._ _

__Instead his older brother just sighs, sending him a glare before walking away._ _

__He’ll deal with that later._ _

__In movies, he’s sure that this would be the height of conflict. In a different world this would be when Sylvain would call out to Thomas and the two would end up in a nail biting fight where someone would get their nose fractured, multiple tables and cups would be broken, maybe at one point he’d lose his gun and be forced to fight hand to hand. Depending on the type of movie, Dimitri would then grab his gun and be the one to deliver the finishing shot right as Thomas tries to plunge a knife right through Sylvain’s neck._ _

__But this isn’t a movie. And it’s been years since Sylvain’s had to fight someone hand to hand when he had a gun in hand._ _

__It ends with one single shot, snuffed out by his silencer. Dimitri’s startled jump is the only thing that he focuses on as Thomas’ body hits the floor, the other man never knowing that Sylvain had been behind him._ _

__“Ah S-Sylvain—“_ _

__“Are you okay” he cuts the blonde off running over to make sure that Thomas was truly dead before looking over to the blonde who despite having previously looked spooked, had now calmly processed what had happened. Morbidly, Sylvain doubts this is the first time the man’s ever seen someone die in front of him in that manner. He’s not sure how that sits with him._ _

__“I am fine, I was worried however that you wouldn’t wake up in time. Regrettably, i wish i had tried to wake you up sooner but when I had seen you had a fever I didn’t want to bother you” Dimitri frowned and as cute as that was, really it had no reason to be that cute, the redhead couldn’t help but sigh._ _

__“Please don’t _ever_ leave my side, okay?” _ _

__The blonde simply nodded, before Sylvain had to figure out the best way to discreetly get rid of the ‘inconvenience’. Landing on simply putting the body in the trunk of Thomas’ car and then later ditching it into some far off woods. Now more than ever, they had to get away from here after all so they could afford to make one tiny stop. And yes, technically he could bury it in his mothers farm, what with it being acres of land but well. He already felt guilty that he had to throw away his mothers tablecloth, he’d never be able to look her in the eye if he buried a body here._ _

__A lot of bleach and two car trips later, the kitchen looked just the same as it did before, and just in time for his brother to walk back into the house. The older man hauling a chicken for what would most likely be their dinner that night. Miklan didn’t even bother looking at Dimitri or him and instead just plopped the chicken down on the cutting board._ _

__He cringed, not having a single clue on how to go about this conversation, “Uh Mik, about—“_ _

__“Don’t care. And don’t tell me anything, I’m not going to jail again because I got involved with your shit” Miklan huffed before turning to glare at him. “Don’t tell mom either.”_ _

__“Well fucken obviously” Sylvain glared back before sighing, “look Dimitri and I are leaving today anyways so just. Just don’t let anyone inside or anything.” He didn’t get any other response, his older brother just shrugging before going back outside, clearly adamant on not talking about what happened and for once Sylvain can only thank the gods that his family sucked at talking with one another._ _

__He doesn’t realize just how tired he is until he finally gets to sit down in his bed, the stressful morning having now completely been swept under the rug. Not to mention the hour long sweep he had to do on the entire farm to make sure no one else had snuck in or where sneaking in._ _

__With a groan he falls back on the bed to let himself just have a couple of seconds to himself. Maybe actually let himself “wake up on the right side of the bed”. Maybe after this he’ll go downstairs and actually have breakfast….. There’s a lot of “maybes” that he wants to do but before he can think of that, he hears Dimitri clear his throat._ _

__“I uh,” another cough, “I wanted to thank you for protecting me. Especially when protecting me put your family in danger, I know that that is something that you might have never intended to do and I’m sure that if given the choice you would have preferred to protect your family over me but I still want to thank you for it nonetheless.”_ _

__He can’t help but smile at the blonde, “Dimitri. I don’t think you realize just how much more i like you compared to my brother.” That instantly causes the blonde to frown but before he can say anything Sylvain continues. “But it’s fine. If anything I should be the one thanking you since you went out of your way to make sure nothing bad happened to Miklan or my mothers home. You could’ve easily just ran to save yourself after all.”_ _

__“I would never sacrifice others.”_ _

__“I know” Sylvain grinned, “it’s why you’re so cute.”_ _

__And just as predicted, the blondes blush was enough to get him in a better mood. He doesn’t recognize that he’s smiling until Dimitri smiles at him and he tries to smile back only to realize that he’s already doing that. It’s weird, and entirely unlike him to feel at ease with someone else. He can’t personally remember the last time that he ever felt any kind of care towards someone he’d been forced to work with. Even his own team members were people that he never grew very close with (the exceptions being Dorothea and Bernadetta). Weird then, how one simple man that he had met mere days ago, had managed to wiggle his way past his walls._ _

__He’s not so foolish to think that it’s anything but a mere crush, not so foolish to think that maybe it’s not even that deep and is instead just simple attraction and loneliness at play. But with the way that Dimitri’s smiling at him, with the way that it feels just right to have that man besides him, he can probably trick himself into thinking that there’s more._ _

__The sound of his phone buzzing snaps him out of his train of thought, the redhead reaching over to grab it. There’s a simple text message there, not from Hubert or even Ferdinand but instead from Edelgard herself._ _

___We cleared them out of the city, the rest that remain we’ll have to hunt down in time though I’m sure they won’t be making any moves for a while. We’ve managed to find the rats as well so there’s no longer any fear of anything being leaked. I’ve spoken with Fraldarius and we’ve both agreed that it’s safe enough to bring Dimitri back. Call me once you can for a full run down on your situation._ _ _

__He can’t stop himself from laughing at the message. A quick end to a quick mission he guesses, though he knows more than anyone that his team must have worked day and night to be able to achieve something like this. At Dimitri’s questioning stare, he shows the younger man the text, the blonde smiling at the sudden upturn of events._ _

__“I’ll call in soon, explain what happened here and get an actual story of what’s going on. After that feel free to call as many people as you’d like with my phone, I’m sure that you’ve been dying to let your friends know that you’re safe.”_ _

__“Thank you” Dimitri replied before the man frowned. “So then after this… I’m free to go home and go back to how everything was before?”_ _

__“Yup” he shrugs, pocketing his phone. “You can forget all of this and leave it all behind you big guy.”_ _

__“I see” the blonde mumbled, the frown on his face somehow deepening._ _

__“What” he asked. “That’s not something you want your highness?”_ _

__“I—no” Dimitri shook his head, straightening himself. “It is, it’s just that… it doesn’t sit right with me that after everything you’ve done for me, you’ll just disappear after this.”_ _

__His traitorous heart skips a beat at that, and he has to force himself to not think too much on the way that Dimitri looks almost saddened by the idea of him just vanishing from his life. Protocol calls for that after all, for him to drop out of the blonde's life and never again have contact with him to keep his identity hidden._ _

__But he’s never been one to truly follow every single rule in the rule book. Never been one to follow every order to a T. With everything that’s happened— with everything that he’s shared with the blonde— maybe it would be more wrong to just drop everything. Maybe, being selfish this one time, is something he’s willing to do._ _

__“I mean, I did say that you can always thank me by taking me out to dinner” he grinned at the blonde. Waiting for the words to fully process in the blonde’s mind before Dimitri smiled at him, a beautiful shining thing._ _

__There’s hundreds of loose ends. Hundreds of things that need to be done and hundreds more that need to be explained. He’ll have to talk to his mother once she decides that her shopping trip should finally finish given that it’s been hours. He’ll have to make sure his brother doesn’t say anything, just as he’ll have to make sure that his family will be kept safe once he leaves. And he knows that one day he’s going to have to explain to Dimitri everything that he’s kept hidden from him just as he’ll learn everything from the blonde._ _

__He won’t think logically about this though. Give him a couple of minutes and maybe he will, give him a couple of days and maybe he’ll even stop and really consider the consequences to his actions, but right now? Right now the only thing his brain is focused on is Dimitri, and just how genuinely happy he feels in that exact moment._ _

__“I’d be more than honored to take you out to dinner” Dimitri smiled._ _

__

__Or maybe he won’t regret a single thing at all._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Sylvain’s mom: if I take a long time to come back they’ll be forced to wait another day to be able to leave. Haha my plan has no imperfections!! 
> 
> If you want to yell at me about how stupid Sylvain is, I’m on [twitter](https://mobile.twitter.com/wrathiess)


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